


hurricanes through me

by torigates



Category: How I Met Your Mother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-04
Updated: 2013-11-04
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:45:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031841
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Quit it,” Ted whined from across the room. Only Ted could make his voice sound like that mix of extreme irritation and pleading.</p>
            </blockquote>





	hurricanes through me

  
“Quit it,” Ted whined from across the room. Only Ted could make his voice sound like that mix of extreme irritation and pleading.

Robin looked up at him, an annoyed look on her face. “What?” she asked irritably. The two of them were hanging out at the apartment. Ted was hunched over his desk by the window, working on some drawings he had brought home from the office.

“You’re fidgeting,” Ted told her. “It’s unbelievably annoying.”

She scowled at him from across the room. She was sitting at their table, flipping through a magazine without paying attention to it. “Is that so?” she asked.

“That’s so.”

She huffed and rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”

Ted turned back to whatever it was he was doing. He had explained the project he was working on when he got home from work, but honestly it went in one ear and out the other as soon as he finished speaking. It wasn’t that Robin didn’t care about his work, she just had other things on her mind today.

Robin resumed fidgeting. She heard Ted sigh, but ignored him. It wasn’t her fault that she was fidgeting, and Robin thought Ted might be a little more understanding about it. She had gone for an interview last week for a real anchor job. A real anchor job that wasn’t for a morning show, and wasn’t for late night news, but the actual, real evening news. Robin didn’t feel like it was so unreasonable for her to be nervous. The woman who interviewed her said they’d be in touch by today, and Robin was literally sitting beside the phone waiting for it to ring. She was beyond waiting for it to ring. She had actually moved on to _willing_ the phone to ring with nothing but the force of her mind.

It wasn’t working.

Robin huffed, and tried to stop fidgeting. Instead, she chewed on her thumbnail, shooting Ted a glance out of the corner of her eye. He seemed to be ignoring her now, which was actually a bit of a relief. Except for the fact that Robin desperately needed something to distract her, or she was probably going to lose her mind.

“They’ll call,” Ted said without looking up.

“What?” Robin asked, startled out of her reverie.

“They’ll call,” he repeated. “And you sitting there willing the phone to ring is not going to make them call you any sooner. In fact, it’s probably just going to make you lose your mind.”

Robin gaped at him. She had no idea how Ted did it, but he always seemed to know exactly what she was thinking. It was a little creepy, actually.

“Relax,” he said. “They’ll call, and it’ll be fine. Now would you _please_ stop fidgeting before I lose _my_ mind? Read a book or something. Watch television. Anything.”

“Right,” Robin said. “Sorry.”

Robin paced around the room a few times searching for something, _anything_ to occupy her while she waited for the call, but nothing seemed all that appealing. Ted’s spine straightened on the other side of the room, and Robin could tell he was physically restraining himself from snapping at her again. Out of pity for him more than anything else she flopping down on the couch and grabbed the television remote.

She began aimlessly flipping through the channels, not bothering to pay attention to what the images were showing her. She was so preoccupied with _not_ paying attention to what was on TV that she missed Ted rising from his desk, walking across the room and settling next to Robin on the couch.

“Hey,” Ted said, gently prying the remote out of her fingers. Robin hadn’t noticed how tightly she had been holding it. He put his arm around her shoulder, rubbing slow soothing circles on her back. “Relax. They’re going to call.”

Robin nodded, wringing her hands together in her lap. “I know,” she said. “I know.”

“Why are you so nervous?” he asked. “You’ve been on tons of job interviews. You have a job. You have nothing to lose here. If you don’t get it, you’ll find something else.”

“I know,” Robin said. Logically she did know that Ted was right. Sooner or later (and Robin hoped to god it was sooner) they would call and she would know either way whether or not she got the job. Even if she didn’t get it, she knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Something else _would_ come along, eventually, she was sure. It was just exhausting. She was so tired of saying that, of saying that something would come along sooner or later. She wanted this job now. She just really, _really_ wanted it. It was more than that, though. She wanted the job, _and_ she knew she’d be great at it. She’d worked hard, rocked the interview, and was beyond the perfect candidate. “I just _really_ want this job. I mean, it is a real job, on a real station, on a real news show. I’m just so tired of hating my job.” She sighed.

“I know,” he said, hugging her tight. “I know.” They embraced for several long moments, and Robin couldn’t help but notice how nice it was. Finally, they pulled apart, and relaxed back into the couch. Robin put her head on Ted’s shoulder.

“I just really need a win,” she told him.

“You’ll get it. You will,” he said. “I know it.”

She smiled and pulled him in for another hug. “Thank you,” she said.

They sat in silence. Robin watched the flickering images on the television half-heartedly. Mostly, she was thankful to have friends like Ted who could calm her down and tell her exactly what she needed to hear when she needed to hear it. She really did believe things would be okay in the end, it was just nice, sometimes, to have that reminder from someone else.

“What are we _watching_?” Ted asked eventually.

Robin looked closer at the TV. “I have no idea,” she admitted.

The two of them laughed. “Let’s find something a little better to distract you,” he said.

“Sounds like a plan,” she agreed.

The phone rang.


End file.
